IVF - long protocol V short protocol

[LJM83]

Hi all

A bit of background - I have just turned 38 and my husband is 35, we have a DD who has just turned 7 (conceived naturally with no issues at all) and we have been diagnosed with secondary unexplained infertility.

We started IVF last July and had one short protocol fresh cycle (BFN), 1 medicated frozen cycle (BFP followed by missed miscarriage), 1 non-medicated frozen cycle (BFN).

We have no more frozens left so are going to start another fresh cycle - our specialist has suggested considering a long protocol this time.

Has anyone switched from one to the other? Does anyone have any comments / advice. As it hasn't worked for us yet I am happy to switch things up but am a little concerned about the increase in meds / duration and therefore higher risk of OHSS.

Any comments greatly appreciated 😘

Hi @LJM83 - sorry to hear about your negatives and miscarriages. My first fresh cycle was short protocol and was cancelled after 15 days of stimming - the scans looked ok but my Estradiol was dropping on the blood tests so it was abandoned. They didn’t really know what caused this but changed to long protocol for the next cycle and it was positive. I know though my situation is different as I didn’t even make it to egg collection on short protocol. I’m now in a similar boat again waiting to try a natural FET after a failed and abandoned medicated one. X

@LJM83 I'm in the opposite situation! Our long protocol failed so I am being swapped to a short protocol to see how I respond (although we got decent number of eggs and fertilisation rates the embryos were poor quality).
What's your AMH? If it's high you might be at higher risk of OHSS.
Just to reassure you you will be monitored regularly and the clinic should adjust your meds doses too if needed and that will hopefully keep the risks to a minimum, clinics will try and stop this happening!
I did some side effects on the downregulation meds initially which settled headaches and fatigue I was still able to carry on with work though xx

@AutumnHoping
Thank you for replying - sorry for the delay, I must have missed that notification saying that a comment had been made.
I'm sorry to hear about your abandoned cycle but I'm pleased you had success with the long protocol.
I found the natural FET amazingly simple compared to the medicated one - obviously with no medication there are no nasty side effects which was very welcome. If I am lucky enough to have some frozens with this next cycle I will certainly go for a non-medicated FET if it's needed.
How did you find the long protocol? x

@Roo45 sorry for the delay - I missed the notification so presumed no one had commented, thanks for your message.
Sorry your long protocol wasn't successful - I had one good and two not so good embryos with my last cycle.
I guess, in both of our cases, it makes sense to switch things up a bit if we haven't had the desired outcome.
My AMH is 16.3 which I understand is low enough for me to not be super high risk. It's good to know they keep a close eye.
Where are you in your short cycle? I hope covid isn't delaying anything for you x

I found it good. Obviously longer which can be annoying when you’re impatient but I only needed to take injections once a day for the long protocol so it meant I wasn’t setting my alarm for 6 on the weekends to do them. Thankfully I had no side effects from the drugs on either protocol. I stimmed for 15 or 16 days too. I was on the lowest dose and stayed in it longer rather than increasing to reduce the chance of OHSS.

@LJM83 that was exactly the rationale my clinic gave me for changing! Looking at everyone's stories unless you have something like PCOS it can be difficult to predict women's responses to different drugs and protocols. I had a similar AMH and I was fine on long protocol, I did get some side effects but nothing too major and all settled within a few days. The most annoying thing is just the length of treatment lol.
I'm halfway through my short cycle and actually my side effects seem worse on this round! Thankfully things seem ok so far, but I responded well on the long protocol too and actually things seemed well up until the last stage when our day 5 embryos were poor quality, but I guess it's best to try and take things 1 thing at a time. The clinic have recommended more in depth testing of the sperm and embryoscope this time around.
Good luck xx

@AutumnHoping yes the length of the cycle is a little frustrating because I am very impatient. I find a lot of IVF is waiting around for something! One injection a day sounds great though! Good luck with your FET (you find yourself waiting again!) x

@Roo45 my main concern about the long protocol is OHSS so I'm pleased to hear you were fine with a similar AMH. Good luck with the rest of your cycle, hopefully the side effects ease x

My 1st cycle was long second was short... miscarriage on long protocol but had my daughter after the short protocol.. everyone is different no-one can tell you what will happen.
Good luck x

Thank you @shazzz1xx - congrats on your daughter x